Owings Mills singer takes her shot at the big time

By Norma Sorto
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

As she hears the crowd chanting her name, Abby Tawiah, 20, is venturing into a new career path to become the next upcoming alternative R&B artist.  

Ghanaian American Abby Tawiah, an artist from Owings Mills worked with Roc Nation producer Anwar Sawyer with her debut single “High.” 

Tawiah is currently on a trial basis contract with Sawyer Music Entertainment, a management company based in New York. Tawiah’s song “High” has garnered more than 20,000 streams on Spotify since its Sept. 25 release.

The musician took the initiative to start her music career as a part-time soloist in the midst of a pandemic.

“I recognize that we are at a really interesting place where everyone in the entertainment industry was like, ‘the playing field was leveled,’ ” Tawiah said. “I should probably do something.”

Since 2017, Tawiah has been focusing on live performances and discovering herself as an artist. She is currently enrolled in Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.

In February, Tawiah was the opening performance for Chief Keef, an American rapper based in Chicago, and Roddy Rich, an upcoming artist from Compton, California, in New York. She performed as a DJ and played a few of her songs. It was a thrilling moment in her career.

“Just to look out at the audience was just insane,” Tawiah said. “To feel the electric energy, to get a taste of life that I want to go into was an amazing moment. Live music is powerful. It’s a form of escapism.”

The songwriting process for her song “High” was a creative journey that allowed her to craft her songwriting skills. The meaning of the song developed over time. Tawiah wanted her to express her real emotions and say what she needs to get out of her chest about a particular situation. She wrote the entire song and recorded the lead vocals. Her manager helped produce the piece by creating the instrumentals and putting the song together.

Tawiah said that releasing the song in September was a smart decision. During the summer, the Black Lives Matter movement was the main topic. Tawiah believed that it would’ve been insensitive to release the song in a time of political unrest.

“I just decided to work on it,” Tawiah said. “August rolled around, and September felt right. It felt as if things have calmed down, and it felt more appropriate to release my music.”

As Tawiah finished her song, the only thing left to do was to film a music video. During quarantine, she tempted to film the music video by herself. However, it did not turn out the way she planned. She felt as if she could do something more significant.

She then contacted her friends Michael Tan, who studies Electronic Media & Film at Towson University, to direct and edit the music video and Aszana Lopez-Be, a student at Haverford College, to help with the art production. 

“She reached out to me because she was planning to release some new tracks in September,” Tan said. “She just texted me and asked if I was interested in creating a video for her and just started brainstorming.”

The creative group created their mood board to find the perfect visual for the music video. Considering the social distancing guidelines, it was important for Tawiah to find a location that best fits the song’s aspects.

They shot in two locations, a grassy field that depicts the song’s nature aspect and a tennis court shot at night, giving a vibrant visual.

“We were bouncing ideas with each other,” Tan said. “Abby is quite visionary. A lot of these were her ideas. We were just working to bring them to life.”

López-Bell helped with styling and the production of the music video. She created a red dress that Abby wore during the tennis court scene. One of the few obstacles they had to face was fitting the concept of the song and music video together.

 “At first, it seemed very disjointed because the red dress scene was in the night, and the rest of the music video was very light, bright.” López-Bell said.

In the end, Tawiah and her team were able to release an innovative music video that would help her grow as an artist. Tawiah is planning to release her music on a single basis and hopes to be a full-time artist in the future. 

“My endgame is to be an artist full time,” Tawiah said. “I feel like I’ve always known that’s what I wanted to do now more than ever.”